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JVC RX-8040, Sony STR-DE897 and Yamaha RX-V750

 

geekboy
Silver Member
Username: Geekboy

Newport, RI United States

Post Number: 310
Registered: Dec-03
Posted on   
Well, Sound and Vision has delivered the September 2004 edition of their magazine. It's jam packed with reviews of everything it seems. This month, they reviewed 3 receivers.

First of all, the Yamaha RX-V750. At $650 (Retail), it has a 4Ohm switch, 8 selectable bass crossover frequencies, and Zone 2 to name a few interesting features at this price point. Not to mention that the new Yammie will do upconversion to component from S-Video and Composite and it has OSD (on-screen display) on the component video outpus! It even does the dishes! :-) Just kidding.

The JVC and the Sony are a bit disappointing, but we're talking the $400-$450.00 range. They lack OSD (on-screen display) functionality and are a little clunky if you ask me. But the reviewers seemed to like them all overall. The JVC and Sony are not for me. I don't like receivers without OSD and especially receivers where some setup functions must be performed up-close-and-personal. :-) Apparently some functions on the JVC and Sony can only be setup from the receiver itself -- not the remote.

The latest additions to the Sound & Vision Test Reports is always available. I updated it with these latest test results.

I like the Yamaha overall. I do continue, however, to be utterly disappointed with the test results for multichannel on these amplifiers. The single channel was awesome on most of these, with all of them around 150W into one channel. But with just 5 (not 7) channels driven, only one approached 75% of rated power, and that was the Sony. The JVC, rated 130W according to the documentation, only pumped out 63W in 5-channel mode (48% of rated power... that's dismal). The Yamaha only pumped out 61W in 5-channel mode (61% of rated).

Surprisingly, the Sony, rated at 100W, pumped out 76W (76% of rated) in 5-channel mode.

Operative word here... 5-channel mode. Expect lower in 7-channel mode. They don't seem to have tested to 7-channel mode on these systems (which Sound & Vision had done before when the systems were 7.1 or more).

Let me add something else in here. I actually like that Sound & Vision tests the systems at 1KHz, the same way the manufacturer does it. I like that Sound & Vision, however, doesn't just test "one-channel" with the 1KHz tone. S&V doesn't just do "2-channels" either (although in this article, they didn't do the 2-channel test). This makes the test level with those the manufacture performed So they did the 1KHz test tone... and... voila... these systems don't hold up to their own test (1KHz) in multi-channel mode. :-) Caveat Emptor. Always look for all channels driven. Okay, I'm off my soap box.

My standard disclaimer: most home theater systems only need about 40W to achieve adequate listening levels. I continue to be disgusted by manufacturers who publish numbers like "130W x 7 channels" and can't even pump out 50% of that "rated" power <b>all channels driven<b> in the lab. Wait, Sound & Vision was even nice. :-) They didn't even test it with 7-channels driven... just five! I will continue to give kudos to the more honest manufacturers. NAD, Rotel, Pioneer Elite, and Harman Kardon (to name a few). People will continuously look at those brands -- in the previous sentence -- and think that they don't have any power. I put my 70W x 7 Harman Kardon AVR-525 up against any of those in the review... including that 130W x 7 JVC which will -- and I'm really guessing here -- only do about 50W into 7 channels all channels driven.
 

landroval
Silver Member
Username: Landroval

Post Number: 479
Registered: Feb-04
Posted on   
The RX-V650 did 5x47W and 7x41W at German Audio mag. RX-V750 did 5x52W and 7x47W. Both to 8ohm.
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